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Saturday, July 11, 2015

La Chene Chapel- Fascinating Oak Tree Chapel In France (10 Pics)

In the late 1600s, an oak tree in Allouville, Bellefosse in France, was minding its own tree businesses , up until a lighting stroked and hollowed out its center.

The local priest interpreted this as a holly event and a sign from God, so he decided to build a church inside of the injured oak tree – La Chene Chapel ( The Oak Chapel).

The tree was still growing under the kingdom of Louis IX and it survived the Hundred Years War with the English, The Black Death, the Reformation and the Revolution.

After all those years, revolutions and wars, the old oak tree shows a signs of age and stress, but however, the oak tree still stands strong.

Although Chene Chappelle’s host tree has begun to wane, its congregation still gathers twice a year for Mass and the tree is still the destination of annual pilgrimage on August 15, the Feast of the Assumption of the Virgin.